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The Tell Tale Heart And The Black Cat Research Paper

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When Madness Leads To Murder How insane must one be to kill those he loves? Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat" bring this question to life as the events leading up to killings are explained by murderers themselves. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” plans the murder of an old man and successfully carries it out, only to reveal himself when he “hears” the beating of the dead man’s heart. “The Black Cat” is a story about an alcoholic who tortures and kills a cat. Then he attempts killing a second cat but instead kills his wife. Both Poe stories have narrators who experience paranoia after committing murder, as well as possessing differences such as method and cover-up of murder and revelation of murder. …show more content…

The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” has severe delusions that prove it impossible for him to keep his crime a secret. After murdering the old man, the narrator hears “a low, dull, quick sound--much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton” (Poe, “Heart” 4) as he talks with police officers. Nevertheless, the noise the narrator hears is solely in his head and “steadily increased” (Poe, “Heart” 8) as he grows frustrated. The unrelenting suffering caused by the noise leads the narrator to think “They heard!--they suspected!--they knew!--they were making a mockery of my horror!” (Poe, “Heart” 8) and eventually reveal the murder. Likewise, after killing his cat the narrator in “The Black Cat” “could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat” (Poe …show more content…

In the exposition of “The Tell-Tale Heart” narrator reveals he has killed, pushing him to defend his sanity while detailing his plan of murder. For instance, he states, “I thus made up my mind to take the life of the old man” (Poe, “Heart” 3) and proceeds to deny his madness, saying “Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded” (Poe, “Heart” 3). The revelation of the murder in the beginning allows for a character driven story rather than a plot centered tale. Poe’s method allows the reader to focus on the narrator’s voice and ultimately judge whether he is insane. The murder in “The Black Cat” is revealed at the climax of the story. Poe writes, “I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot without a groan.” (Poe, “Cat” 11). By revealing the narrator’s crime at the climax of the story, Poe builds up suspense. He leaves the reader questioning the narrator’s every move and how the story will

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There are many differences between Edgar Allan Poe’s two short stories, “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat,” including their resolutions, confessions, and the narrators’ reasons for telling their stories. First of all, one story is a cliff-hanger, and has no resolution, while the other has a resolution. In “The Tell Tale Heart”, the narrative ends at the climax of the story, which is when the narrator confesses his crime to the police. However, in “The Black Cat”, the resolution is revealed in the beginning of the story, when he explains that he will be executed for his crimes. In addition, in one tale, the narrator confesses his offense, while the other crime is exposed by accident.

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The Tell-Tale Heart, a murderous scheme, is told in such a way that could be explained as premeditated murder. The narrator, however, is plainly criminally insane. The facts keeping this statement straight include the killing over the vulture eye, the continuous heartbeat, the narrator had to continuously remind himself that he was not mad, and the fact that the narrator did indeed love the old man. To begin with, criminally insane is explained through the fact that the narrator killed the old man over the vulture eye. The vulture eye was always opened and was always watching the narrator.

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In Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat”, the narrators both reveal their crimes to the police through over-confidence and guilt. Both unreliable, you cannot always believe what they say. The narrators’ arrogance and guilt allow then to reveal their crimes to the police and their true evil selves to the world. In “The Black Cat”, the narrator kills his wife out of anger for the second cat. While she is protecting the cat, he takes an ax to her brain.

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Comparing Madness Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” are two different tales of the protagnists descending into madness. “The Tell-Tale Heart” follows a man who insists he is not crazy to the end yet confesses to the murder of an old man. He had stalked an old man simply because of his pale blue eyes. “The Black Cat” follows an alcoholic on death row who insists he’s not mad despite of his story might and does convey. He does not start out a crazed murderer but is in fact is a happily married, animal-loving man.

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Regarding the character’s personality, it shows that he was quite insane for committing murder for an absolutely foolish reason and Poe did a great job expressing the insane narrator’s character

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In the short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author writes the story in first person perspective of the main character. The main character acknowledges that he has a disease that allows him to perceive and look at things differently in reality. This mental illness prompts him to want to kill an innocent man because the narrator loathes the old man’s eye. On the eighth night, the main character abruptly kills the old man and confesses to the police because of the panic and pride that has overcome his mind. Now, the killer is found guilty and now is being determined of what is to become of him.

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In Tell Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe incorporates different motives that the main character, The Narrator, has to develop the theme. The Narrator 's biggest desire and motive was killing The Old Man. Eventually this experience may cause a turning point in his behavior if the motivation drives him to his worst part The authors main theme guilt is shown through the beating of the heart towards the end of the story when The Narrator says, “I gasped for breath--and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly--more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased.”

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In The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe the narrator is guilty of murder because the narrator thinks the old man could never suspect that his caregiver would ever try to kill him, he claims he can recite the story calmly and healthily as he remembers every detail unlike an insane person , and he admits to killing the old man so he is aware he has committed murder. It is important to realize that the narrator is too presumptuous because the old man would never think his caregiver would try to kill him when he expresses this statement “So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that at every night, Just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.’’ ( Poe 7).

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Through the entire story, Poe had it so the reader always knew something was going to happen, but constantly question when and what. “The Tell Tale Heart” continually makes the reader think and sparks a certain interest. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, there are multiple instances of suspense. One part with a lot is when the narrator is going to actually kill the

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Obsession, internal conflict, and underlying guilt are all aspects of being human but when it’s associated with paranoia and insanity it may be just the recipe for the perfect crime as perceived by Edger Allan Poe in “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe uses this as one of his shortest stories to discuss and provide an insight into the mind of the mentally ill, paranoia and the stages of mental detrition. The story 's action is depicted through the eyes of the unnamed delusional narrator. The other main character in the story is an old man whom the narrator apparently works for and resides in his house. The story opens off with the narrator trying to assure his sanity then proceeding to tell the tale of his crime, this shows a man deranged and hunted with a guilty conscience of his murderous act.

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